refusal , but more probably his reasons were political – the democrats were dominant in this region and he didn ' t want to challenge his own party . by collecting some old civil war debts from the federal government , beck ##ham virtually eliminated the state ' s debt . encouraged by the state ' s improved finances , the general assembly voted to expand two of the state ' s normal schools , western state teachers college in bowling green ( later western kentucky university ) and eastern state teachers college in richmond ( later part of eastern kentucky university ) . with a successful legislative session behind him , beck ##ham made a bold political move in june 1906 : he orchestrated an effort to
refusal, but more probably his reasons were political – the democrats were dominant in this region and he didn't want to challenge his own party. by collecting some old civil war debts from the federal government, beckham virtually eliminated the state's debt. encouraged by the state's improved finances, the general assembly voted to expand two of the state's normal schools, western state teachers college in bowling green ( later western kentucky university ) and eastern state teachers college in richmond ( later part of eastern kentucky university ). with a successful legislative session behind him, beckham made a bold political move in june 1906 : he orchestrated an effort to